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The prevalence, duration, and outcome of anosmia in COVID-19 subjects admitted to two tertiary care hospitals in Saudi Arabia
Firas R Abi Sheffah1, Osama A Marglani2, Ameen Z Alherabi2, John C Heaphy1, Anas H Al-Tammas1, Talal A Al-Khatib3, Yasir Osama Marghalani4, Raghad A Ghazzawi1, Abdullah Y Tashkandi5, Samiha F Khayyat6, Majid A Albeladi7
1 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
2 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah; Department of ORL-HNS, Collage of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
3 Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre; Department of ORL-HNS, Collage of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
4 Department of ORL-HNS, Collage of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
5 Department of ORL-HNS, Collage of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
6 Department of Pediatrics, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
7 Department of ORL-HNS, Ohud Hospital, Medina, Saudi Arabia
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Samiha F Khayyat
King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Jeddah
Saudi Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None
DOI: 10.4103/sjoh.sjoh_37_22
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Objectives: The objective is to investigate anosmia in patients with COVID-19 in tertiary care hospitals in two major cities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to determine its prevalence, clinical characteristics, duration, and outcome. Methods: A retrospective study on COVID-19 patients who are admitted to our tertiary care hospital between May and December 2020. The inclusion criteria were all patients who are admitted to our tertiary care hospital with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 in this study, we enrolled 545 patients for this study. Results: Of the 545 contacted subjects, 277 (50.82%) answered, whereas 268 were excluded, 26 (4.8%) of which passed away. One hundred and nineteen (42.96%) subjects were female whereas 158 (57.04%) were male. The mean age was 42.81 ± 16.76 standard deviation. About 162 (58.47%) of the 277 who completed the interview had anosmia; moreover, anosmia was grouped into transient and persistent anosmia. It was persistent in 15 subjects (5.4%) and transient in 147 subjects (94.6%); the range duration of transient anosmia was 1–180 days with a median of 10 (6, 20) days (median and interquartile range). Of the 277 subjects, 148 (53.4%) had ageusia; 15 subjects (5.4%) experienced anosmia as the only symptom, and 12 subjects (4.33%) developed ageusia as the only symptom. Of all the symptomatic subjects with anosmia 162 (58.5%), and 76 (41.36%) subjects reported a subjective impact on quality of life. Conclusion: More than half of the COVID-19 patients in the study presented with anosmia that was transient in the majority of cases.
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